My decision to wear hijab was a quick one. A sudden one. One that could only have been decided for me.

Walking into the prayer room of the library’s basement yesterday, I heard an unmistakably soft and beautiful recitation of the Qur’an. Every letter was pronounced clearly, and every verse flowed onto the next. And then I saw you, the owner of the voice, wearing a navy blue jilbab and a light blue scarf, sitting with a noticeably large Qur’an resting upon your lap. Your fingertips swept across its pages, line by line, verse by verse.

I was empowered by the shadows of my surroundings. No, It wasn’t pleasant. It threw darkness upon me from every angle. As I lay there on my bed staring at the wall all I could picture were my tears, my weak heart, my lost identity. As days went by though, I lived through hope, hope for a better tomorrow, hope from Allah, the Almighty.

Why does it become so difficult for us to accept the decree of Allah ta’ala? When we are on a train, we look forward to reaching out destination. We look forward to whom we will see and what we will do. However, on the train of life, we don’t look forward to the destination at the end, the akhira.

It is through His words that hearts are opened and mended. The unmatched eloquence of the Qur’an is where all of life’s answers lie, if only we took the time to seek them out.